EDUCATION

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

The Roanoke Robotics Club meets at the Science Museum on the first Saturday of the month at 12:00 Noon. If you want to build and operate robots, come join people who share your interest! From beginners to advanced builders, they have it! (Meetings not held in all months of the year – call (540) 819-8020 to confirm beforehand.)

And click on our EVENTS/UPCOMING page for a list of offerings by the Science Museum of Western Virginia.

EXPERIMENT @ HOME

Here are some of the experiments we featured on Fox 21/27′s So Cool Science School that you can do at home!

Make Your Own Slime

Materials:

Elmer’s Glue® (8 oz bottle of Elmer’s Glue-All)

Borax (a powdered soap found in the grocery store)

Large mixing bowl

Plastic cup (8 oz size works well)

Spoon

Measuring cup

Food coloring (optional)

Water

Paper towel for clean ups

Zipper-lock bag

Directions:

Empty the entire bottle of glue into a mixing bowl. Fill the empty bottle with warm water and shake. Pour the glue-water mixture into the mixing bowl and use the spoon to mix well.

Add a drop or two of food coloring (optional).

Measure 1/2 cup of warm water into the plastic cup and add a teaspoon of Borax powder to the water. Stir the solution – don’t worry if all of the powder dissolves. This Borax solution is the secret linking agent that causes the Elmer’s Glue molecules to turn into slime.

While stirring the glue in the mixing bowl, slowly add a little of the Borax solution. Immediately you’ll feel the long strands of molecules starting to connect. It’s time to abandon the spoon and use your hands to do the serious mixing. Keep adding the Borax solution to the glue mixture (don’t stop mixing) until you get a perfect batch of Elmer’s slime. You might like your slime more stringy while others like firm slime.

When you’re finished playing with your Elmer’s slime, seal it up in a zipper-lock bag for safe keeping.

Make a Snowflake

Find out how crystals are formed using borax and a few other household ingredients.

Materials:

String

A wide-mouth jar

Pipe cleaners

Boiling water

Borax

A pencil

Blue food coloring (optional)

Instructions:

Cut a pipe cleaner into three sections of the same size and twist the sections together in the center. Make sure the points of your shape are even by trimming them to the same length.

Attach a piece of string and tie the opposite end of the string to the pencil. You will use this to hang your completed snowflake.

Carefully fill the jar with boiling water. For each cup of water add three tablespoons of borax. Add one tablespoon at a time and stir until the mixture is dissolved. Don’t worry if some of the borax settles at the base of the jar.